1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing telephone sets. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a method and apparatus which can be used by unskilled consumers having no background in telephony.
2. The Prior Art
Prior art test units for telephone sets suffer from a number of practical disadvantages. One such disadvantage relates to the relatively high cost of such test units, which cost is often outside the price range of certain retail establishments which would employ the test units for its customers. In addition, existing telephone test units generally require trained personnel or technically-knowledgable operators to perform the test of the various operating parameters of a telephone set. In other words, an unskilled person cannot bring his or her telephone into a store and use the prior art test units; a trained sales person must do the testing. Further, some prior art testers, although purporting to be usable by unskilled consumers, require the user to make subjective determination as to the acceptability of certain operating parameters. For example, the user must determine if the sound received in the earpiece is loud enough; or the user must speak into the handset and the test unit must then determine whether or not the received volume is high enough, even though the level of the user's voice can vary from a whisper to a scream. Moreover, many telephone test units effect transmission tests by requiring that the mouthpiece/earpiece of the telephone under test be placed in an acoustic coupling device which does not fit all telephones, particularly the designer model phones which have become quite popular recently.
Generally, if a test unit for telephone sets is to be reliably used by untrained personnel, it must provide a minimal number of simple instructions and must not require any subjective evaluation of tests by the user.